External Tags for Puppet

Installation

What this module does

This module creates a directory, /etc/tags and allows you to create JSON in this directory to create arbitrary tags from a variety of sources. It then evaluates those JSON files and creates a structured fact, tags with them.

It also includes a defined type which allows you to create tags from with Puppet.

You might use this if:

• You want an external build tool to tag virtual machines/container/hosts
• You want to extend facter beyond what it does with key value pairs, and want a facter value with a output of tags
• You are already used to the the concept of tagging in AWS, and want the same ability to use tags in physical infrastructure
• You have a deployment tool, or multiple deployment tools, which you want to use to tag infrastructure, and you want those tags to be available in facter

Usage

The basic way of using this module is to include it:

include ::facter_tags

Once you've included the module, a directory, /etc/tags will be created which is a directory which will be read by facter.

You can use any tool you like to create JSON files inside this directory, and these will end up as structured facts.

As an example, we create a JSON file in /etc/tags with a JSON array:

# cat /etc/tags/type.json
[
  "infra"
]

This gets is then read by facter:

# facter -p tags
["infra"]

Tags from Puppet

There's also a defined type included which allows you to tag hosts from within Puppet. Using this is as simple as this:

facter_tags::value { 'puppet':
  values => ['infrastructure', 'operations']
}

Your tags will be parsed and then a JSON file will be created inside /etc/tags with the title of your defined type, so in this case /etc/tags/puppet.json.

Make sure you don't have two tools overriding each others JSON files :)

##Limitations

Depends on the JSON gem, or a modern ruby.